That all stolen. That’s not even mine!

You have found an exciting topic. Your presentation is well prepared and you have it all worked out, but you could use a little more pep. So you could just share that one image you saw on the internet or just use that one video you liked so much in that one lecture you saw last week. To finish your presentation off you could just use the text passage from your favorite speaker.

Theoretically these are all nice ideas… but with all these adaptations, although small you do have to consider copyright. Copyright does apply to just as equally to written products as it does to your presentation; And should there be violations with copyright, it can quickly lead to unpleasant litigation…. YIKES!

Illustrations and pictures

The largest number of all images and illustrations, whether cartoons or gifs, which can be found on the Internet belong to another person who owns the rights and are therefore protected by copyright. The easiest way to use the image you would like to have is to contact the creator and explicitly ask for the use of the image. Often a clear marking and naming of the owner is enough to use it. Sometimes though, you may have to pay something to use the picture.

An exception to the rule is the picture citation: which works just like the word citations and may be used explicitly in one place and requires an exclusive naming and marking; both in your sources and on the image used. To avoid these complications, there are image databases that sell your licenses directly or are completely free. It must be said, however, that the pool of selections in fee-based databases is significantly larger. Advantage of both variants is that it is more inexpensive to use the acquired image files.

Using Video

If you want to insert videos into your PowerPoint presentation, you should first make sure that the author has uploaded and published their material with permission from each platform such as ex: Youtube, Vimeo… etc. It can take a lot of time and effort to figure out, but at the end is worth all the trouble; because the effort it costs is far less than the fine you’ll be getting in a case of copyright infringement.

Text passages and quotes

Of course, all text passages and citations are subject to copyright and must be marked accordingly and identified. Texts, whether from the internet or from print media, are protected by copyright and can not simply be taken over. Quotations must explicitly mention the author and should the quote come from a published medium, then it is your task to provide an exact source with which all important data emerge.

A small overview of which print and online media are protected and which are not: